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Just wondering how many here go to KS bowhunting i will be headed up Monday ?
What part of Kansas you hunting in?
I try to go up by Independence every year. The price of tag didn't let me this year! Will miss it though, saw some giants last year! Hope you do good!
I hunt SC Kansas. I'll be up there this Sunday to check cameras and hunt a bit then I'm back up there the 6th to hunt for a week straight. Where are you hunting Okie? Also are you a doctor?
Not a doctor just was the bowdoc in okc about 12yrs meet a lot good people over the yrs. I hunt EC KS bout 45min. se of Emporia sounds like it should be good up that way during next 2 wks i will be there 4th thur 17th. Good luck to all!!!!
I hunt SC Kansas too Woodswise....Hunted the last week of October and didnt see many cruising yet so i think Im gonna head back up after this weekend...should be really good...Where are you hunting close too....Im north of Isabelle in the Pratt area....
I just got back last night. I had been up there since the 7th. I'm trying to get one buck in particular so it's ben a bit tough for me. We have been playing cat and mouse. When I'm at stand A, he's at stand B and so on. I had him at 20 yards Friday evening but it was too dark to shoot. I'm headed back up this Thursday for a few more days. We'll see how it goes.
Good luck to you!
We have some family land north of Coffeyville. I've hunted there the last 9 years and have done pretty well. However, I have seen a huge decline in mature bucks each year since KS has opened the amount of NR hunters they allow in.
I usually hunt Kansas but decided against it this year. The EHD hit hard in the area I typically hunt and the pressure on public land has increased drastically in the last several years. I should have some access to some new private land next year up by Cherryvale so will probably buy a tag then.
Well back from KS. Eating tag soup had a encounter with 170ish buck 1st day and set my goal on him with no regrets seen some good ones the first few days and then it was tuff after that hunted 5th -16th one of my buds got a nice 150 in. 11pt.on the 11th.
I shot this buck on the 14th of November. I've seen him on trail cams occasionally for the past 3 years.
woodwise very nice buck and congrats !!!
Congratulations, Robert! Great buck!
Funny how after so many years of banning Kansans so many Okies want to come to Kansas and I hear NR still can't hunt OK mule deer
Things must be getting too quiet on the KS site....
Funny how the bitter old farts on the Kansas forum aren't content with complaining about their state on their own forum but feel the need to go onto other state forums and do the same...
Woodswise that is an awesome buck! wow!
I've enjoyed some modest success in Kansas. Despite the KS forum's constant doom and gloom, I've seen more and bigger deer every year I've hunted since my first year in 2008. Still haven't got a booner but I had one come by five minutes after I shot my buck this last season.
You should post that image on the KS site. They're getting bored over there.
Not getting bored and you haven't heard me complaining I was just asking.I have always said that that the home state should provide for it's residents but Kansas is one of the ones that manages for $$ not the resource.We all know the numbers are down in some areas,look at the 50% drop in car deer accidents this year.Don't think they learned how to look both ways.What about letting Kansans come to OKLA?I actually went on my first deer hunt just outside the Deer Hunting capitol a long time ago
You're welcome to come on down Randy. Tags are over the counter and you can shoot 2 bucks.
Contrary to what you heard, you can shoot a mule deer if you can find one. For buck harvest, the state considers a deer a deer, regardless of type.
And to clarify, the only reason Oklahoma banned Kansans was because Kansas banned Oklahomans. As soon as Kansas lifted their ban on nonresident deer hunting we did the same. The only difference is Kansas banned everybody. We only banned states that banned us.
You've done pretty good Okie! I feel the same as you on the numbers. It seems to be as good or better than it has ever been since I started hunting there. I do know some areas have been hurt. I have friends that hunt various areas of the state and they say the numbers are down in their areas. I believe them, I just don't see it in my little neck of the woods. We're just lucky I guess?
Also, if anyone is interested, I had that buck above aged by Wildlife Analytical Labs and they aged him at 7.5 years old.
I will have to check on the mulies as I had a contact in western part of state and they did have some big mulies there.Interesting age on that buck,you can tell he is mature but you wouldn't think that old.If you didn't have millions of acres of public land and all your places were leased up you might feel a little different.Remember Kansas is 98% private.
Woodswise,
Lucky! That's what they keep telling me. ;-)
I wish we had a million acres of WIHA.
Randy, Oklahoma is 98% private too. We don't have millions of acres of public land. We also don't have a WIHA program as Quailhunter pointed out and we have our fair share of leased land both from residents and nonresidents.
We deal with the same crap man. It isn't any different down here.
I live in KS and go down and partakes in Okla's. deer resource from time to time...thank you Okla. lifetime hunting license! Then partake in private land KS whitetail from Oct.-Dec. and if feeling really good will throw in some mule deer hunting in late Oct. around my cabin in Crested Butte, CO. I'm everywhere man!
I will say this...Okla. public land/control hunts hunting is much better quality than KS public land hunting in terms of cover and terrain (primarily). KS has the limestone minerals in its soil which is a huge factor in antler development so it at least has that going for it. KS public lands tend to be multiple farm ground acquisitions, etc. so there are series of open spaces and hedgerows, open spaces and hedgerows and if lucky an occasional river or creek to break up the monotony. There are only a few public hunting areas in KS that can come close (not equal) the continued quality of cover or habitat like that of Cookson Hills, Spavinaw, Big MAC, or Hickory Creek (for example).
So the avg. guy in KS left with only public land hunting as their option really does get the shaft compared to my fellow Oklahomans....especially when sharing that limited amount of KS public land with all the NR that flock to the KS thinking they are going to kill a monster like the Realtree or Primos guys.
Ok maybe not a million but a heck of a lot more as mentioned in previous post than Kansas.Wasn't trying to start a argument just saying that OKLA has a lot of public hunting compared to Kansas.
I did some looking and it is easily over a million acres
You guys over on the KS site ever think that maybe you're not doing yourself any favors by posting picture after picture after picture of GREAT bucks every year?
I would submit that the amount of WIHA in Kansas is easily as much as our public hunting and when you throw in all the public hunting land and corps land in Kansas I don't think you can reasonably say that Oklahoma has a lot more public hunting than Kansas. Maybe we have a little more, maybe we have less but there isn't some great disparity between the states.
Im looking to go to Oklahoma next year, some folks have invited me to bowhunt. Ive lost a couple of spot to leasing up here so i figure why not. Just got to save up for out of state licence/ tag.
Come on down Chuck. Plenty of deer to be had. Good luck and let us know how you do.